My Polaris Prize Ballot - 2019 Round Two

Round two of the Polaris Prize voting (i.e. whittling down from the Long List to the Short List) closed last night at midnight CT and now I wait until the announcement event on July 16th to see if I did any better with this round than the 2/5 I went on Round One.

Honestly the best I've ever done was 3/5 and it wasn't until last year with Jeremy Dutcher claiming the prize that my unequivocal #1 actually took home the prize so I'm disappointed but not surprised to go 2/5 and see no Winnipeg / Manitoba entries make the Long List.

As I have always done, I move up the votes that make the cut to the top spots, and then fill in the rest of my ballot from among the overlap between my personal Long List and the official Polaris one.

I'd like to shout out Alexandra Streliski and TOBi as I did agonize over including both their records in my 5-spot.

Here's what I ended up submitting last night:

My Polaris Prize Ballot - 2019 Round One

So last night at midnight CT, my ballot for the first round of the 2019 Polaris Music Prize was due. And after the usual down-to-the-wire sweating it out, I whittled my own longlist down to my five album ballot.

As I've done in the past, I'm sharing my longlist and ballot and I have to say this was another tough year. There were several albums I agonized over up to the deadline and did some soul-searching and flip-flopping before I pressed 'submit.'

Some of these titles will come as no surprise to people who've followed the blog or listened to my show on UMFM - the reason I've played them or shared them is because I've enjoyed them.

Kudos to all who are listed below - I'm a big fan of what you're doing. I strongly encourage people to check these albums out.

Here's my alphabetical longlist:

AKUA - Them Spirits
Allison Au Quartet - Wander Wonder
Black Legary - sirulian memorii
Tanika Charles - The Gumption
Isla Craig - The Becoming
Simon Daniel - Nightcrawler
Sarah Davachi - Gave In Rest
Elaquent - Blessing In Disguise
FET.NAT - Le Mal
Flying Horses - Reverie
Greys - Age Hasn't Spoiled You
Jayda G - Significant Changes
Korea Town Acid - Mahogany Forest
nehiyawak - Starlight EP
Safia Nolin - dans le noir
Rhye - Spirit EP
Joseph Shabason - Anne
Shay Lia - Dangerous
Slow Spirit - Idle
Snotty Nose Rez Kids - Trapline
Alexandra Streliski - Inscape
Teen Daze - Bioluminescence
TOBi - Still
Tony Wilson & Burn Down the Cornfield - This Way Thru the Forest
Justin Wright - Music For Staying Warm
Yes We Mystic - Ten Seated Figures

And here's my ballot:

It just so happens the Longlist reveal is taking place in Winnipeg this year. Fingers-crossed some of these albums will be among those announced on June 20th at The Forks.

Les Louanges - "Pitou"

What's the French word for 'yacht rock?' Is it Pitou? Because listening to Les Louanges, the latest signing to the always interesting Bonsound. It's the solo project of Vincent Roberge who debuted under Les Louanges on Bandcamp in 2016.